Ayr boss Neil’s an angry Mann

Oct 3 2007 Ayrshire Post

STUNNED Neil Watt watched opposite number Steve Paterson hook Bobby Mann to save him a certain red card after woeful whistler Alan Muir shirked his job.

And Ayr's fury was compounded when the ref flashed a straight red at Alex Williams for a high challenge on sub Iain Good with 19 minutes to go.

There was no doubt Mann should have been heading up the tunnel when he wrestled Jerome Vareille only ten minutes after being booked. But while Muir ignored the foul, Paterson took action of his own, keeping the veteran indoors for the second-half.

Watt hit out: "It was so blatant that the manager took him off at half-time to make sure he kept eleven on the park. It was fairly obvious that when he never emerged that he had escaped pretty fortunately so that could have changed the game.

"As for Alex's sending-off, it was too far away for me to judge but certainly the squeal helped the referee make up his mind. He managed to get up and continue and I would say that changed the game."

The defeat brought Ayr's eight game run shuddering to a halt after too many went off the boil. Watt claimed: "The good run had to end sometime but I'm disappointed at the manner it did especially after taking the lead early on. We have played some good football against some good teams over the last eight weeks but we never reached that level here."

Ayr couldn't have hoped for a better start. Only four minutes in and Ryan Stevenson bent a 20 yard rocket shot off the post and Williams pounced to fire his seventh goal in seven games.

But Peterhead were soon making smart moves forward and seconds before the break, Dean Cowie rifled home a low 18 yarder for a deserved equaliser. Vareille and Williams forced saves at the start of the second period but it was the The Blue Toon who struck in 63 minutes when Martin Bavidge who cut inside to bury a low drive.

The red for Williams left ten man Ayr up against it and Peterhead could have added to their tally on the break.

STAR MEN: ***Barry John Corr; **Michael Moore; *Chris Robertson.

AYR: Corr; Pettigrew (Hamilton 68), Swift; Forrest, Henderson, Stevenson; Vareille (Wardlaw 68), Robertson, Moore, Williams, Dunn. Unused subs: McGeown, Casey, Weaver; Booked: Pettigrew, Forrest, Moore. Sent off: Williams.

PETERHEAD: Kula; Buchan, McKay; Mann (Good 46), MacDonald, Anderson; Sharp (Istead 86), Cowie, Bavidge, Bagshaw, Donald (Munro 90). Unused subs: Will, Soane. Booked: Mann.

Referee: Alan Muir; Crowd: 1331.